MoCP Exhibition Imagines the Life Emmett Till Might Have Lived

Phil Borges, “Paternity,” 1990. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at .Phil Borges, “Paternity,” 1990. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at .
MoCP’s “If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground” brings together photographs by 116 artists to honor Till’s unlived life and enduring legacy.

What if  had safely boarded the train home to Chicago in the summer of 1955? What might his life have become—and what would that life have required of the country around him? 

A new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at invites viewers to consider those questions through 116 works from the museum’s permanent collection. “” opens September 10 and runs through December 19, 2026. 

Till, a 14-year-old Black Chicagoan, was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered while visiting family in Mississippi in 1955. His death and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley’s decision to hold an open-casket funeral helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement. 

The exhibition was conceived through a collaboration between guest curator Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till’s distant cousin and best friend and the last surviving witness to his kidnapping. MoCP Chief Curator and Deputy Director Karen Irvine serves as coordinating curator, with Krehbiel Family Curatorial Fellow Deanna Whitlow as assistant coordinating curator. 

Imagining an Unlived Life 

“In 2026, when Till would have been 85, this exhibition forms a particularly powerful act of remembrance,” says Irvine. “Lewis asks viewers to imagine him not only as the 14-year-old whose death became an iconic image of racial violence, but as someone who might have grown older, formed relationships, raised a family, witnessed the Civil Rights Movement, and experienced the ordinary joys of an entire lifetime.” 

Civic and cultural leaders from across the country were invited to select photographs from MoCP’s collection that represent their hopes for Till’s unlived life. Contributors include members of the Till family as well as Lonnie G. Bunch III, Chelsea Clinton, Ava DuVernay, Alicia Garza, Sherrilyn Ifill, John Legend, Wynton Marsalis, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Amy Sherald, Yara Shahidi, Hank Willis Thomas, and Deborah Willis. 

Together, their selections form a collective reflection on the freedoms Till was denied and the work still required to secure those freedoms for others. 

The exhibition features photographs by artists including Dawoud Bey, Gordon Parks, Carrie Mae Weems, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Dorothea Lange, Annie Leibovitz, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Arthur Shay, and Till’s distant cousin Lance Omar Thurman. Thurman is represented by a photograph of the remains of Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market in Money, Mississippi. 

Extending the Exhibition Beyond the Museum 

The exhibition is accompanied by “If Emmett Till Lived: A Creative Monument,” a standalone publication edited by Lewis and designed by Miko McGinty. Published by MoCP and DelMonico Books and distributed by Artbook | D.A.P., the book features photographs from the exhibition and original essays by Lonnie G. Bunch III, Vinson Cunningham, Paul M. Farber, Sherrilyn Ifill, Sarah Lewis, Siddhartha Mitter, Jeneé Osterheldt, and Patrick Weems. 

A dedicated website, ifemmettlived.org, will also launch in September, offering expanded information about the exhibition and related public programs. 

The project arrives amid several efforts to preserve Till’s history and extend his legacy. On September 9, Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ—the site of Till’s funeral—will unveil and illuminate a recreation of its historic sign. The Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Mississippi is also preparing to take possession of the barn where Till was murdered and transform it into a site of remembrance. 

Through its photographs, publication, and public programs, “If Emmett Till Lived” asks audiences not only to remember the life that was taken, but also to imagine the future Till should have been allowed to inhabit. 

“” will be on view September 10–December 19, 2026, at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at , 600 S. Michigan Ave. Admission is free. 

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